The city of Seattle already boasts 600 electric vehicles, as well as the country’s biggest chapter of the Electric Vehicle Association. So it was no surprise to find that Nissan and the city of Seattle have struck a deal to bring their Leaf EV to the city by next fall.

What does that mean for the folks in Seattle? They’re going to be trend setters, that’s what! Each consumer who purchases a Leaf EV as part of the program will receive their own 220-volt charging station in their home.

According to Nissan, the Leaf five-passenger hatchback EV it intends to release to Seattle can go 100 miles on a single charge, and according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, will cost just $190 to drive 10,000 – which comes out to less than two cents per mile!

When you do the math, the comparison between the Leaf and even the most fuel-efficient cars is staggering. Two cents per mile, when compared to 30 miles per gallon of gas at $2.75 per gallon, is practically nothing; it is a mere 60 cents – more than 75 percent less!

It’s all part of the city’s greater goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 7% below 1990 levels by 2012. It’s estimated that emissions caused by the transportation industry are 60% to blame for their current levels, so replacing the gas-guzzling cars on the road today with EVs will put the city well on it way to reaching its goals – and the city’s residents well on their way to realizing tremendous savings on fuel and maintenance.

One of the automotive world’s major players has made a huge commitment to electric vehicle production, according to a report by the Nikkei business daily.

Nissan Motor Company has announced its plans to invest 50 billion yen to speed up the production of electric car batteries made by Renault, its French partner. Thirty billion will be spent to construct a new plant in France (with Renault), and will be the home of Renault’s lithium ion batteries. The new plant is expected to be open no later than 2012 and will provide batteries for approximately 60,000 cars. Meanwhile, 20 billion will go directly to supplying the actual batteries, which are to be placed in Renault EVs that are tentatively supposed to be on the French marketplace by 2011.

This unprecedented move comes on the heels of Nissan’s CEO Carlos Ghosn saying that zero-emission vehicles will be a staple of his company’s business in the future – and that the French/Japanese duo was prepared to produce 500,000 electric car batteries each year as soon as market conditions warranted it.

If these 500,000 new electric vehicles sold for a very conservative price of $20,000, we can assume, then, that Nissan plans to recoup this investment in a big way – in upwards of $10 billion.

Why does Nissan have such big expectations? The answer is simple. They understand that the American public (and the rest of the world, for that matter) is clamoring for a vehicle that is cheaper on fuel, less expensive to maintain, and “greener.” The electric vehicle gives them all that in one package.

Nissan and Renault also plan to share some key components on their future vehicles, thereby cutting costs on their joint venture.

As more and more people become aware of the technology already in place (not to mention what is just around the corner), the groundswell of demand for electric vehicles is already being felt. It’s just a matter of time before the whole world knows.